Lagarde, HCA's MidAmerica Division president, pulled no
punches in a letter Friday (Oct. 25) to Roberts in which Lagarde said "you have
gone well beyond expressing an opinion and are attempting to discredit our
organization and our employees, partners and medical staffs."

Lagarde's complaints included accusations that Roberts
leaked a proprietary draft letter of intent to the news media, and that Roberts
has refused to meet with company representatives to discuss HCA's proposal,
despite the agreement of five other council members to do so.

"The manner in which you've attacked our corporate
integrity, endeavored to undermine the bid process by leaking our Letter of
Intent, and refused to consider our hospital proposal objectively is
appalling," Lagarde wrote.

Lagarde wrote that HCA lawyers will meet with Inspector General
David McClintock's office to discuss the purported leak, although Roberts, in a
response Monday, disputed that a leak ever occurred. The matter stems from a
public meeting in August in which Roberts openly disclosed that HCA's lease
proposal included a purchase option, which would require a public referendum
under parish and state laws.

HCA revised its proposal, which was covered by a
non-disclosure agreement, to eliminate the purchase option shortly thereafter,
and copies of the revision were distributed to the media. Roberts said in his
response to Lagarde that this was done "to assist HCA" in providing
"clarification to every media outlet that reported HCA's proposal included a
purchase option."

Mel Lagarde

"I was not aware when you forwarded the corrected version
that the entire LOI was included in the attachment. An attempt by you to raise
this issues now as we discussed this matter on a few occasions seems very
suspect," Roberts wrote.

Regarding his refusal to meet with HCA, Roberts wrote that
he "purposely avoided one on one contact with any suitor under consideration."
Roberts concluded his response by accusing Lagarde of attempting to "silence
concerns raised by professionals and residents that have contacted my office,"
and that he had forwarded Lagarde's letter to Connick for review, a suggestion
of possible legal action.

Lagarde also took exception to Roberts' drawing attention to
a pair of court cases that were unfavorable to HCA. In one, a Missouri judge
ruled in January that HCA owed $162 million to a Kansas City foundation for
failing to live up to capital investment requirements in its acquisition of a
dozen hospitals. Lagarde wrote that the matter boils down to a difference of
opinion about "which capital expenditures count towards contractual capital
spending obligations," and that HCA had "far exceeded our capital commitment."

Roberts also has been sounding the alarm about HCA's
multiple civil fraud settlements with the U.S. Justice Department totaling $1.7
billion. The last of those settlements occurred in 2003, and Lagarde noted that the
case itself is 17 years old.

"None of HCA's current leadership were at the helm of our
corporation at that time," Lagarde wrote. "The HCA corporate culture and
compliance programs have changed substantially."

Roberts has been a staunchly advocated for Louisiana Children's Medical Center to win the right to negotiate a lease for East Jefferson General Hospital and West Jefferson Medical Center. The two hospital boards are split, with East Jefferson wanting HCA and West Jefferson calling for Children's.